The Fall Of The Terran Empire
by sawchy
Summary: The Terran Empire is in its glory, but the newly promoted Emperor Spock is leading the Empire to its distruction with calls of peace. Its up to the Captains of Starfleet to save the bellying up Empire from its worst defeat in history.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**_2286, Terran Calender, Terran Controlled Space, I.S.S. Saratoga_**

The sun in the solar system glided behind the outline of the Imperial Star Ship Saratoga as it glided through the uncharted alien system. Its white hull was turned almost black in the shadow of the enormous ball of burning light. The medium sized vessel was a Miranda class star ship, which was shown by its large saucer and lack of an engineering section. The two medium sized nacelles were the only thing to leave the saucer unlike the large constitution class that made up the bulk of the Terran fleet.

Captain Samuel Frost looked down at his ships log with a frown. He couldn't quite decide what to record in his log, it hadn't been an eventful day. Just another day of traveling at maximum warp to their objective. Which was still at least four hours away at maximum warp. Against his better judgement, the chief engineer had told him if the engines were pushed for much longer the nacelles might start to buckle under their own subspace stress. They needed to wait at least two more hours before their engines would be ready to be pushed, at this rate it was going to take them forever to reach the Sigma Manchu system.

He sighed loudly and set the log down on his desk; he leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. This was turning out to be a long and boring assignment. Like most other Captains, he wanted to be on the borders. Where the chances of catching a vile alien vessel violating their borders was more then likely, his ship had been pulled off border duty for six months now receiving refitting at the Alpha Centuari ship yards. He was anxious to take his newly upgraded ship into combat and see how it handled against the inferior technology of some alien ship.

Samuel reached up to his face and stroked his dark brown goatee while he starred at the screen saver emblem displayed on his monitor. The outlined Earth with the dagger through it made him smile, the empire was in its time of glory. Well, it had been in its glory. That was, until that Vulcan had become emperor. He was pushing for peace like some sort of weak enemy. It wasn't the empires way to be peaceful, but Emperor Spock was pushing for peace after so many long years of conquering and stomping out rebellions amongst the conquered species. He was even putting forth a military downscaling plan that would reduce the empires military to only that which would be enough to defend its borders.

The door to Samuels ready room chimed bringing him out of his disgusted thoughts of the current emperor. He got to his feet and picked up his dagger which was lying on his desk; he placed it in his holster and looked to the doorway. "Come in," he said placing his right hand on his dagger.

The door swooshed open revealing Samuel's bodyguard Major Kyle Rostov in the doorway. He looked up at the Captain with his stern weathered face. He was a man of nearly fifty, but he was as fit and healthy of a man in his thirties. His dark brown hair was spiked upward and his eyes were cold as he nodded to Samuel with a straight poker face. "Lieutenant Johnston is here to speak with you sir," he said nodding behind him in the doorway.

"Let him in," Samuel replied watching the Major step back out of the doorway and giving the Lieutenant the room he needed to walk into the captains ready room. The helmsmen of the Saratoga walked into the room and stood at attention in front of his captain. He brought his arm up and across his chest before thrusting it outward in a brisk salute. Of all the things that Samuel demanded of his crew, it was proper military proceedures. "What is it Lieutenant?" Said Samuel looking at the mans hands, wrists and hips. He had no apparent weapons besides his dagger. Perhaps, he had some sort of energy weapon slid up the sleeve of his gold uniform.

"Sir, we've been given another status update from starfleet command. They say the tension along the border with the Alliance is starting to increase. Our patrols are encounter at least three fighter wings for every ten light years they travel along our border," reported the young officer with thinning blond hair and a weak jaw.

"For every ten light years?" Repeated Samuel shaking his head and lowering his gaze towards the deck plates. "The Alliance must be thinking were planning an invasion."

"Maybe their planning an invasion, sir?" Said the lieutenant looking some what worried at speaking out of turn.

"Its possible. Now that the Cardassians and Klingons have allied themselves; their more powerful then even the empire. They must have at least a third more star ships then we do, if we go to war with them, it could be devestating for the empire."

"I think the empire would emerge victorious through any conflict with the Alliance. The mere fact alone, that they are inferior aliens means they would already be at a disadvantage," said the lieutenant with a slight grin.

Samuel looked at the young man with patient eyes, "Arrogance like yours is what puts the empire in danger from its enemies. They may be aliens, but their ships and weapons will still kill us as surely as a dagger slitting our throat."

**_I.S.S. Rome, The Alliance Border(Delta Omarian System)_**

"I hold you in the highest confidence my friend," said the strong confident image of Emperor Spock on Captain SemPek's monitor. "You must try and find a way to lessen the tensions building along our borders with the Alliance. If you cannot, our only choice will be war. That is not the path I am trying to take our Empire down." He said shaking his head. "If we don't shed our ways captain, the empire will fall one day."

"Peace is the more logical way to take the empire sir. It will become a lasting government if we can hold it together through these dark times," said SemPek sitting up straighter in his chair. "Emperor, if we cannot convince them to cease the military build up, then my ship will be trapped behind enemy lines. Isn't it more logical to send several ships in a peace convoy? Rather then just my single ship?"

Spock leaned back in his chair and looked off to the side at something off screen. He turned back to SemPek, "It is my judgement that if we send more then a single ship. It will not only waste those good ships if this turns out to be a trap, but also the more ships I send will look more menacing then just a single cruiser."

SemPek nodded, " I understand emperor. It is our duty to serve the empire."

Spock nodded, before reaching forward and cutting the subspace communications link between the Imperial palace on Earth and the Rome. The screen went blank and the golden image of the Earth being impaled by the dagger appeared over it.

SemPek looked towards the window in his quarters and just gazed out at the black darkness that his ship traveled through. The streaking stars made him think of how ever closer his ship travelled towards a more then likely death. If the Alliance turned on his ship half way through the talks, his ship would not be able to hold out against them for long. The Khitomer system was on the border, but the sprint back across the border could be bloody and costly for his ship.

"Bridge to Captain," called a woman's voice from the speaker mounted on his desk. SemPek reached forward and flipped the large switch with a single finger.

"Captain here," he stiffly replied. Trying to sound aggressive and dominant towards his crew, he had to be an iron fist leader in order for his crew to follow him. It drove most of his senior staff crazy knowing they had to follow a lowly Vulcan. In his ten years of Captaining the Rome, there had only been six attempts on his life. Every single officer who had tried to usurp his command spent hours in the agony booth before being executed. It was only logical that anyone who questioned his leadership be dealt with.

"Our Alliance escort has arrived sir," said the woman slightly quieter. Whether it was from SemPeks bark, or something that the Alliance had did or said; he couldn't tell. "I think you should come to the bridge sir."

"On my way," said SemPek standing up and disengaging the communicator. He walked out of his quarters and began walking towards a turbo lift. His body guard, Captain Lance took up step behind him immediately. They both walked down several corridors before getting on a turbo lift and heading for the bridge of the Rome. The turbo lift whooshed as it passed each level on the ship, the humming of the ships engines was almost soothing with the steady whoosh.

The lift reached the bridge and the doors slid open to reveal his staff doing their various tasks, and making sure the Rome was ready for combat at any moment. SemPek walked around the railing in front of the lift and down the steps to his chair, he looked over at the Lieutenant commander who had been in command while he was talking to Spock. She walked over to him, "Our Alliance escort has joined our ship and are matching speed with us. They've taken up a formation, that would prevent us from moving off in any other direction. We can only go forward or back, sir."

"How many ships make up our escort, commander?" Asked SemPek looking towards the view screen which showed the stars streaking past them as they travelled across the border into Alliance held space. It was unnerving knowing that they could be killed at any moment for just being there.

"The escort fleet is made up of three Ravenous Class battleships, four Birds of Prey, two Cardassian Jaladin Class torpedo Destroyers and D-7 class cruiser," reported the young officer with a some what uncomfortable sound in her voice.

"Thats a size able fleet." SemPek nodding the officer dismissed, he looked over at the operations officer. "Give me a visual on the flagship," ordered SemPek taking a seat in his chair. It was large and felt almost like a throne, it made SemPek feel a slight twinge of power. But he suppressed it along with all his other feelings.

The view screen blinked as the ops officer punched buttons on his console; the screen changed its direction and zoomed in on the image of a Klingon Ravenous class battleship appeared. Its dark grey paint was so dark, it almost looked like it was painted black in some sort of vain attempted to make it look invisible. The Klingon ship looked just like every other Klingon vessel he had seen in his time, a large rear drive section with a slender neck leading to a bulbous command section. But this ship was unlike the older D-7s that SemPek had skirmished with over the past ten years. Its body was reinforced with armor and the long slender neck looked like it was reinforced with solid tritanium, it would take a lot of pounding to break that neck if someone wanted to.

"Thats a big ship," said the ops officer in shock looking back at SemPek. He saw SemPeks scowl and turned back around in his chair, he began making it look like he was working.

SemPek stood and looked around the bridge at his senior staff, they looked up at him with curious eyes. "Alright people, we've entered the proverbial lions den. I want this ship running at two hundred percent efficiency, I don't want them catching us off guard. I want constant passive sensor scans on those ships, make sure their not charging up their weapons. No one is to get relaxed until the duration of this mission is over, the entire Empire is counting on us to make this mission a success." He said looking around the room from right to left, he looked towards the operations officer. "Make sure all weapons are ready to fire, and all torpedo tubes are loaded and armed. Alright people, I want your best until we can finally get back across this border to civilization again."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two  
**

**_2286, Terran Calender, Sub Space Relay Station Tauo 332, I.S.S. Saratoga_**

Captain Samuel Frost frowned deeply as he sat in his chair on the bridge of the Saratoga. He stared at the view screen image of the broken and scorched wreckage of what remained of Sub Space Relay Station Tauo three three two. The painted white metal of the stationary satellite was charred black by particle weapons fire, and the remains of the station were in a large crowd of debris.

This relay station was why they had been sent out here to one of the most remote areas of the Empire, it was a vital communications station that would relay radio traffic and subspace feeds back to the core worlds of the empire. It was a very important piece of hardware in the this sector and it had suddenly gone dark five days ago. The Saratoga's first mission out of refitting was to find out why it had lost contact and effectively cut off this sector from the rest of the Empire. And now, Samuel knew the reason. Someone had destroyed the station and Frost knew that something was up. He only hoped that it was some sort of sign of a new rebel movement in the area and not something worse.

"Sensor sweep complete sir", reported the chief tactical officer of the Saratoga, Lieutenant Commander Rachel Averon. She had long blond hair which was put up in a ponytail behind her just like regulations dictated and light blue eyes which looked almost soft despite the rest of her face and body. She was a women in her mid twenties but her face and eyes showed that she had been hardened by the few but difficult years of serving the empire. "The damage was caused by a type two disruptor, which is consistent with Romulan, Klingon, and Breen weapons."

Samuel turned in his chair looked over at Rachel, "Long range sensor scan. Then scan around the debris and tell me if theres any warp trails from whoever attacked this sattelite. "

She quickly got to work punching buttons and reading the information her monitor displayed back to her, her console beeped several times and she looked over a Samuel. "I'm picking up no ships on long range sensors but I am picking up a warp trail leading away from Tauo on course two two six mark one one eight. "

"Helm, plot a pursuit course and go to maximum warp," ordered Samuel turning in his chair back towards the helm. The helmsmen punched buttons and several confirmation beeps echoed out of the console. Samuel watched the viewscreen image of the debris disappear as the ship turned to course two two six mark one one eight. The space suddenly turned blue, and the screen seems to stretch slightly until they broke the warp barrier and passed into warp. The stars streaked past the ship as it continued to accelerate and after the enemy ship.

"Continue scanning at long range, I want to know when we're going to run into this ship," ordered Samuel to Rachel who simply nodded in reply.

Samuel leaned back in his chair and tried to relax slightly, he always tried to relax before a battle. He always found it was a way to calm yourself and try get focused on the job at hand. He knew that when they caught up with this ship, they were going to have to kill them. They had attacked the Terran Empire and that was unforgivable. He just hoped that they weren't part of the new Alliance; if they were part of the alliance then this could be the first steps to an interstellar war. Which Samuel thought might be a good thing, but it still would be devastating. He knew that if the alliance and the empire went to war, both sides would throw all they had at each other.

**_I.S.S. Rome, Alliance Held Space, (Khitomer System)_**

Captain SemPek looked up at the imposing Klingon who stood in front of him. His Bat'leth was stretched across his back and its blades protruded from around the sides of his form. His hair was dirty and mangled looking, his beard was long and unkempt. His face was battered with many scars on it and his eyes revealed all SemPek needed to know about this Klingon. He wanted to kill SemPek and eat his heart, in true Klingon fashion. The thought was almost mildly amusing, but he kept his thoughts and his feelings suppressed.

"You are just a Terran messenger attempting to lull us into a false sense of security with calls of peace," said the Cardassian Ambassador to SemPeks right. "If the new Emperor wanted peace then, why would he be building up forces along his borders with us?"

"As I said early Ambassador, it is in response to the increased military presence that the Alliance is building up on the Empires border. The emperor has no intention to start a war, but he must protect his people from their biggest threat. Which at the moment is the Alliance."

"We are not a threat to the Empire," hissed the Klingon Ambassador now. "If we truly wanted war then we would have already started it, not waited and bidded our time like some sort of _RomuluSnagan,_" said the Klingon saying the Klingon word for Romulans in an almost disgusted sounding voice.

"I'm sure, your intentions are honorable. But we cannot ignore the amount of ships you have patrolling the border. They are...increasing. Its like you are building your forces in plain sight under the flag of peace. The emperor is merely concerned about it. He asks that you withdraw some of your ships from the borders and we will do the same," said SemPek looking from the Klingon to the Cardassian.

"We know what the Terran Empire is. We are not fools, we know you live for conquest and power. It is the basis for your entire society. Without it, your government would fall apart," replied the Cardassian.

"But if things continue building up like this, something will cause the boiling point to be reached. The Emperor wishes to avoid this, if a war happens both sides will be devastated."

The Klingon laughed, and looked over at the Cardassian. "These Terrans think that they would stand a chance fighting the Klingon Empire," he said turning his head from the Cardassian to SemPek. "We would defeat your armies, and would enslave your entire population. Even the speices that you already have enslaved, they would merely be added to our slaves."

"If you have forgotten," said the Cardassian looking at the Klingon. "This is a fully equal partnership between our two people and everything would be shared equally. But we are not going to war, so it is not even worth being discussed."

"Gentlemen, I think I've learned all that I needed to from this meeting. I think it is time for me to take my leave," said SemPek.

"_VulcanSnagan_, We are not finished here, "shouted the Klingon taking a step towards SemPek. For a moment SemPek thought the Klingon might attack him, his hand instinctively went to his belt where his dagger was holstered. The Klingon watched his hand as it strayed to the dagger, "You have accomplished nothing here today but speed up your inevitable defeat," said the Klingon. "The Sands of Vulcan will be scorched into glass and the Oceans of Earth will run red with the blood of the millions of Terran's we will slay."

"You may believe that," said SemPek taking a step back from the Klingon and towards the exit of the room. "But we will make every inch you take from us drenched in the blood of thousands of Klingon warriors and Cardassian soldiers."

The Klingon laughed and reached behind his back, he grasped the Bat'Leth and brought it out in front of him. He began striding towards SemPek, Who drew his Dagger in response. The Klingon steeped forwards and swung in a diagonal downwards motion towards SemPek. SemPek knew he was quick enough to avoid the strike. He stepped to the right side of the blow and brought his dagger up and cut the throat of the Klingon in what a seemed like only a moment. Light red blood spattered from the wound and dripped to the floor as the Klingon made a gurgling sound before falling in a heap on the floor.

SemPek regained his balance and looked to the Caradassian who had began leaving the room. He exited through another door in the far side of the room. SemPek didn't miss a beat, he exited through the door closest to him and headed towads the waiting room he had left his marine escort in. He ran down a hallway and entered the room quickly and stopped in surprise. His marine escort was lying in several piles on the floor, four marines had come down with him. All of whom showed some sort of wound from a Klingon weapon, SemPek looked from body to body.

He reached down to his belt and removed his communicator from his belt, "SemPek to the Rome. One to beam up."

Just as he finished his sentence a group of Klingon and Cardassians burst into the room from the door that he had entered from. SemPek instinctively turned and threw his dagger toward the first alien he saw enter the room. The blade caught the young Cardassian in the neck and made him fall in a single scream of pain.

SemPek felt the familiar icy cold fingers of the transporter grab onto him, he felt his body start to come apart as he saw the first Klingon take a swipe him with his Bat'Leth. The Klingon was replaced with the familiar sight of the bridge of the Rome. The minute SemPek could move again he moved to his chair shouting orders. "Shields up! Charge Phasers and Load Torpedo Tubes!" SemPek Sat down in his chair and looked towards the helm, "Plot an emergency escape vector from the system."

"Captain, three D-7 Class Klingon crusers closing on our position with Six Klingon Birds of Prey backing them up," reported the tactical officer in a voice that was laced with what sounded like fear.

"Helm hard a port," ordered SemPek looking at the image of the first D-7 firing its torpedoes. The bright red balls of light streaked towards the Rome and slammed into their Shields causing the ship to rock violently to the left. The ships inertial dampeners whined as they tried to keep the crew from flying about from the massive impact. The second torpedo hit the ship causing a console to spark and a young ensigns face was reduced to a bloody mess to SemPeks left. "Return fire," yelled SemPek over the sound of a third impact.

The view screen showed the image of the closest D-7 taking a full shot from the phasers of the Rome. The blue beams of light lashed out at the grey hull of the Klingon ship with a fierceness. Its shields took the hit and the D-7 continued towards its prey with savage blood lust. "Helm, move us out of the system. Divert emergency power to the impulse engines."

The ship rocked to the left again and emergency alarms sounded through out the bridge and the ship whined and stained from the impacts. The view screen image shifted and the view of the enemy ships was replaced with the blackness of space as the Rome attempted to sprint out of the system.

"Hull Breaches on decks seventeen, eighteen, nineteen and twenty!" Yelled the Tactical officer over the sounds of another impact from disruptors this time. "We're leaking atmosphere and emergency bulkheads will not engage in those sections."

"Seal all the compartments around them. Even if there's crewmen trapped in those areas," ordered SemPek looking over at the tactical officer who had a look of pure horror on her face. "I gave you an order lieutenant!" She nodded and sealed the compartments as the ship took another hit form the ships chasing them out of the system.

"Show me an aft view," order SemPek. The screen flickered and the rear nacelles of the Rome filled the screen followed by the medium sized dots chasing them. Nine dots now chased the Rome as it ran for its life. A torpedo streaked from a ship began to slowly creep up on the Rome. It slowly gained speed and closed on them. The Torpedo slammed into the starboard nacelle with a deafening roar.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three  
**

**_2286, Terran Calender, Alliance Controlled Space(Khitomer System), I.S.S. Rome_**

Captain SemPek watched the torpedo impact the starboard nacelle and instantly felt the massive explosion before it was even seen on the main view screen. The ship hurtled forward and crewmen were tossed across the bridge like rag dolls. SemPek held onto his chair with all his strength, the ship continued to rock forward from the blast to the large engine nacelle of the Rome.

"We've taken a direct hit to the starboard nacelle!" Called the tactical officer once she picked herself up from the floor and got back into her seat. She punched several buttons and her tactical screen displayed several blinking indicators of damaged sections. "We're leaking warp plasma and the starboard nacelles pylon is buckling. Our aft shield generator was heavily damaged in the blast captain."

SemPek looked from the tactical officer and towards the view screen which was flickering and had a slight haze to it from the damaged sensors of the Rome. The normally white nacelle of the Rome was charred black and a large gaping hole was seen through the entire engine, the red glowing dome at the front of the engine was blinking a slight purplish color. Thick orange warp plasma leaked from the gaping whole in the starboard nacelle and was leaving a trail behind them as the ship continued to move forward. Behind the ship, trailed the nine Alliance ships that suddenly began to loom closer to the damaged Rome.

"Divert power from the rear shield generator to the starboard nacelle's pylon. I don't want that engine falling off lieutenant!" Ordered SemPek as he got to his feet. He walked towards the helmsmen of the Rome, he was a young human who now had a gash to his forehead from being flung forward by the blast. Blood leaked down his face and was pooling on his gold uniform. "Bring us about ensign, I want us to go directly towards them."

The ensign looked up at SemPek then quickly punched the buttons to turn the massive constitution class star ship around. The viewsceen switched from the leaking warp engine to the forward view, the stars shifted hard to port and the nine specks of grey appeared and continued thundered towards them at an alarming rate. SemPek reached forward and hung onto the console of the helmsmen, "Lieutenant, target our phasers for the closest bird of prey and then set our torpedoes to track the second closest bird of prey. Fire on my order."

"Yes sir," she replied to his order and began making the adjustments to the damaged computer console she was manning.

The image on the view screen flickered and was hazy from the damage done to their ship still. But through the static you could make out the now distinct shapes of the ships. Three D-7 class cruisers and the six birds of prey could easily be seen as they closed the vast distance between the Imperial star ship and the Alliance ship. SemPek continued watching the screen as he spoke, "give me a countdown till we pass one another ensign."

He looked down at his console as the smoke filled the air from the battle damage already done to the Rome. "Four...three...two..-."

"Fire Lieutenant!"

Almost the instant he finished saying her rank the ships phasers lashed out with pure energy towards the bird of prey in the upper left of the formation. The blue beams of light slammed into the invisible bubble shield around the outer hull of the alien ship and for a few moments it look as if the shots might not get through. But the beams broke through the shield and cut the right wing of the vessel off sending both pieces; the wing and the ships main body alike spiraling off in different directions. The wing smashed across the shield of the D-7 following it causing the ship to swing out of control and out of formation. The hull of the bird of prey smashed into another bird of prey and both ships were engulfed in a debris filled ball of fire.

The torpedo's fired now, the projectile weapons left the Romes torpedo bay and quickly changed direction as they began tracking their target. A moment later two torpedoes slammed into the dark green hull of the bird of prey and the ship was engulfed in flames. It exploded apart throwing pieces of metal in all directions. The whole firing of the entire Romes compliment of weapons only took two seconds from beginning to finish and once those two seconds were finished the Klingons replied in kind.

The ship rocked hard upward, the to starboard and the floor seemed to be shaking itself apart. Consoles across the bridge exploded upward in blasts of sparks and metal; two crewmen fell to the floor in moments of the ships bridge lighting up with pyrotechnics. The helmsmens console exploded upward, sending shrapnel into the throat of the helmsmen. He fell to the floor thrashing like an animal while SemPek was thrown from the blast. A peice of metal caught him in the cheek cutting his face open and green blood leaked from the wound. SemPek fell to floor as the world went dark around him.

**_I.S.S Saratoga, Shim'tar'oka Nebula(Terran Controlled Space)_**

Captain Samuel Frost gazed out at the green nebula that lay ahead of them. It was a massive dense cloud with random flashes of lighting from the interior of the phenomon. This was where the warp trail had lead them to and he didn't like this situation at all. The nebula was very dense and it obscured sensors from entering it, it was walking in blind and he wasn't to sure he was willing to take the risk by walking in the front door.

"Sensors still not penetrating the exterior of the clouds, I can't see anything in there sir," reported Rachel from the tactical console to Frosts left. "Sir, I strongly suggest that we not enter the nebula. There could be anything in there; and since the nebula is so large there could be dozens of ships lying in wait for us."

"Lieutenant," said Samuel looking over at the science station to his right. "Launch a class two thermo probe into the nebula. Hopefully it can give our sensors an idea of whats in there," he said motioning toward the view screen as he spoke. The lieutenant nodded and quickly launched the probe into the green layers of clouds, it looked like a pebble being dropped into a massive pond. The clouds around the entry point rippled as the probe entered the outside.

"We're receiving telemetry from the probe now sir," reported the science officer. "The nebula contains high concentrations of fluoride, methane, magnesium and...tritanium?" She said looking at Samuel with a confused look on her face.

"Tritanium is a man made substence," said Rachel looking at the science officer.

"Activate the visual sensors and route it to the view screen," ordered Frost looking over at Rachel. She turned in her chair and punched several keys on her console and then turned back toward the view screen as she switched the last button.

All eyes on the bridge moved to the main viewer as the screen flickered and an image appeared. The green clouds passed by the camera on the probe like a jet plane flying through the clouds on Earth. They whipped past like it was moving at incredible speed, but it was barely pulling six hundred kph. Cloud after cloud whipped past the small probe as it dived deeper into the nebula. The clouds slowly dissipated and the interior of the nebula was seen. It was like a hollow tree, a rough opaque exterior and a completely empty inside.

As the visual sensors compensated from the new changed in the environment it was immeresed into, Frost bit his lip at what he saw. Green is what he saw, but not the bright luminous green of the nebula. Instead it was the dark green hulls of atleast fifteen birds of prey moving towards the probe. Behind the squadron of ships another formation could be seen, this one made up of Ravounous class battleships and D-7 class cruisers. All the ships in the formation now began to slowly turn into the probe.

"Helm, all engines full reverse," ordered Frost standing up at the sight of the massive fleet. He turned his head towards Rachel, "I want an exact count commander. Then relay it back to Starfleet command with a priority one alert."

"Scanning sir," she said watching the data come in from the probe. "The probe counts sixty seven ships in this nebula, all of which are now moving towards....us, sir."

"Shields up, charge phaser banks!" Said Frost taking his seat once again and watching the image of the birds of prey. A single ship in the formation fired and the screen blinked into static, a moment later the view screen shifted back into its default position. "Bring us about and lay in a course away from here," he snapped his order at the helmsmen.

"Captain, I can't get the message through to starfleet....-." Said Rachel looking at him grimly.

"The relay station...," muttered Frost to himself. "Without it we can't send or receive messages from the rest of the empire," he chuckled and looked over at Rachel. "A prelude to war. We should have seen this coming."

"Sir, without the relay. They could attack into the heart of the Empire and the rest of the fleet wouldn't know what was happening until a fleet of sixty ships showed up on Earths doorstep," stated Rachel looking at the view screen. Ahead of them, fifteen birds of prey exited the nebula and began dashing towards the Saratoga.

"Helm, plot a course for the nearest area that would bring us into range of any subspace relay stations," ordered Frost as the ships gained ground towards them.

"Aye, sir plotting a course now," said the helmsmen. The screens image of the ships closing on them from the nebula was replaced with the sight of stars as the ship turned around to a new heading. The screen blinked and a blue distortion appeared ahead of the Saratoga and then was replaced with the familiar look of travelling at warp. The stars streaked past the Saratoga as it accelerated past warp factor one, then to warp two, then to warp three.

"Are they pursuing us?" Asked Frost looking over at Rachel.

"Five Birds of Prey are pursuing us, they'll over take us in thirty five minutes sir. We can't out run them," she replied in a grim sounding tone.

"We don't have to outrun them for long, we just need to make it to the nearest relay station. How long till we can be in range? An audio message will work just as well as a video."

The helmsmen turned in his chair and frowned, "we won't be able to reach the nearest Imperial system within range for another hour sir. They'll overtake us before then."

Frost breathed deep as he took in the information. Birds of prey were very fast scout ships that could outrun all but the fastest Terran scoutships. The Saratoga was far from a scout ship, she was a heavy destroyer and almost considered a cruiser if her shield generators were stronger. The Birds of prey will easily run down the Saratoga and their sheer numbers will overwhelm the armaments on the Saratoga very easily. This wasn't a situation that Samuel wanted to be put in, it was a no win scenario with dire consequences if he didn't get to that system. He couldn't just send the message, cause it would take days to reach a Terran system and then be relayed back. By then, the alliance could control the system for all he knew.

"Divert auxilary power to the engines, take power from life support if you have to. But we need to get to that system."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**_2286, Terran Calender, Terran Controlled Space(Deep Space), I.S.S. Saratoga_**

The Saratoga rocked from another torpedo impact on their aft sheilds. Captain Frost held onto his chair as sparks flew from overloaded circuits and the loud whump of the weapon exploding against their shield filled the room. Frost instantly looked over at Rachel, "Shields?!"

Rachel let go of her console and tapped several buttons on her console, she looked back at Frost with a grim look. "Shields are down to forty percent. We can't take much more of this, captain!"

"Helm, time till we reach Omega Centaur system?" Barked Frost, annoyance flowing openly through his voice.

"We'll reach the star system in ten minutes, twenty two seconds sir," replied the helmsman looking at the readouts on his console.

"Another torpedo captain!" Reported Rachel grabbing onto her console and watching the image on the view screen. Frost's scowl grew even bigger as he watched the small glowing orb jut out from the nose section of the closest bird of prey. It slowly creeped up on them, it took the fast moving torpedo several moments to cross the lark gulf of space and home in on its target. The torpedo approached the aft sensor, its glowing red brilliance almost blinding as it edged nearer. The torpedo exploded against the shields with another loud whump. Consoles beeped and a single console to Frosts left burst apart and into flames.

"Damn it!," yelled Frost getting to his feet and stepping the two steps forward to the helm station. "Lieutenant, target the bird of prey in the rear of the formation!" He said snapping a finger back at Rachel. "Ensign all stop. I want them all to fly past us, then let the lieutenant fire and jump back into full warp." He nodded in reply to Frost, who turned and sat down in his chair. "Now," he said watching the view screen.

The Saratoga dropped out of warp, turbulence shook the ship violently from side to side. The five birds of prey, tailing the Terran warship banked and weaved around the now stopped dead in space human ship. Two birds of prey scraped Shields; one sparked and began trailing sparks and deep orange warp plasma. The ships continued for a few million kilometers before they began to drop out of warp to turn and fight the Terran ship. The Saratoga let loose a flurry of torpedoes which impacted the nearest bird of prey and reduced it to a battered hulk in seconds. Fire spewed from nearly every inch of the bird of prey before it fell apart and metal scattered across several million kilometers of space.

Frost smiled as the Saratoga jumped back into warp, the four remaining klingon birds of prey disappeared and were replaced with the usual distortion of warp travel. "Have they realised what we just did yet?" He asked looking over at Rachel.

"They're coming about now sir," she reported looking up at him. "They're resuming their pursuit course now, captain."

"How long until the Omega Centaur system?"

The helmsman looked up at the screen image of the four birds of prey chasing them once again, "Five minutes sir"

"They can fire once again in three minutes captain," said Rachel anticipating Frosts question. "We might be able to withstand two minutes of torpedo barrage if we divert power from all weapons systems sir."

"Do it," said Frost turning in his chair towards the opposite side of the bridge. "Can you break through their jamming yet? This wouldn't be necessary if you could break through ensign."

"I'm trying captain, but they've been jamming us none stop since we left the nebula almost an hour ago sir," replied the ensign in a thick russian accent.

The Saratoga continued hurtling towards the Terran outpost at the fastest it could go. Frost knew this was the time, it do or die. If they didn't reach the system, the entire Empire could fall in a matter of days without anyone to lead it. Emperor Spock maybe be a peace monger but he could not ignore the fact that the Alliance had just committed an act of war. He had to marshal the armies and navies of the entire empire if he even had the slightest hope of winning this war. This was a grim time for the empire, darkness was finally creeping in.

Like the Roman empire from the ancient days on Earth, the barbarians are at the gates. If the empire doesn't hold strong against the alliance they would face the same fate as the ancient Romans. Their empire in shambles and crumbling before their very eyes. Frost would rather die then let the last two hundred years of Terran superiority be thrown away by the mere fact that two sub-human species decided to put their difference aside to fight their common enemy.

"Thirty seconds captain, " said Rachel looking at Frost with a slight smile. "I managed to boost the power to the shields and bring them back up to sixty three percent. Hopefully, that will be enough to get us to Omega Centaur."

_**I.S.S Rome, Alliance Controlled Space (Khitomer System outskirts)**_

"We've got multiple hull breaches, emergency forcefields are failing!" Yelled the tactical officer.

SemPek opened his eyes to the mangled remains of the helmsmen. His face was a pulsating piece of bloody flesh, it was thick through the air and SemPek could taste the metallic taste of human blood and the more bland taste of Vulcan blood in his mouth. SemPek quickly attempted to get to his feet, his face felt wet and sticky from the wound he had suffered from the blast through the helm console. SemPek quickly sat down at the helm and began updating himself with the situation outside of the Rome.

A Klingon D-7 class cruiser quickly approached the Rome and fired. Its torpedo veered out and downward toward the listing Rome, the torpedo impacted the primary hull. The bomb exploded and several decks were ripped open and exposed to space, spilling their contents out into the vaccum. The D-7 continued approaching as SemPek punched the impulse activation button once, it didn't light up at his touch. He hit the control a second time, then a third before it finally lit up and registered the impulse engines as online.

The Rome began hurtling forward, its powerful impulse engines acting like massive tires ripping across open ground. The Rome quickly righted itself and brought its phaser banks to bare on the Cruiser who had picked on the wounded Rome moments earlier. The blue phasers streaked across the shields before breaking through and cutting into the hull like a Katana into a bear. The ships dorsal impulse engine took a large streak of the phasers across it and the large engine exploded crippling the massive warship in mere seconds.

"Continue firing on the next cruiser Lieutenant!" Shouted SemPek over the sounds of another impact to the hull of the Rome. What was holding his ship together he silently thought to himself as the ship rocked from the impact.

The Rome fired once again catching the last undamaged D-7 across the shields. The shields just wrapped around the ship like a security blanket that would not give SemPeks dying ship a moment of hope. The phaser capacitor of the Rome emptied and the massive weapons slowly cut out from firing on the shields of the D-7.

The D-7 came about from the shot and began barring down on the Rome, its forward torpedo tube glowing bright orange as it prepared to fire its torpedoes. The alliance ship fired and two torpedoes left the forward bay, they sprinted across space towards the shieldless Rome and impacted the lowest part of the saucer section. The torpedo bay and lower phaser banks were held in this compartment, it split open like an egg spilling debris and the crewmen manning the weapons across the already debris filled space.

"Captain!" Yelled the Lieutenant, "We just lost our lower phaser and torpedo control bay. Its completely gone sir..." She said trailing off.

"Another ship is joining the fight sir! Its got a friendly IFF!" Yelled the Communications officer.

SemPek punched the button and the scans around the ship shifted to the new vessel. Its large saucer shapped foward hull was unmistakable. The new ship joining the fight was a Terran vessel of some kind, it took several moments for the readouts being displayed in writing to make sense in SemPeks head. It was a Proxima class Terran battleship entering the battle with the Klingon cruisers. The large four nacelle'd ship entered firing range letting loose a full spray on the D-7 class firing on the Rome. The shields blinked before the phasers cut right through the hull like a light being shown through a thin blanket. Blue energy flashed through the heavily armored hull of the cruiser followed by a flurry of explosions that burst out through the main engineering section of the enemy ship.

The ship passed over the Rome, its massive frame cast a shadow over the smaller Constitution class Rome. The large ship turned around and came back in towards the Rome, it swatted a bird of prey aside like a annoying fly. The small ship blew apart with a glancing blow from the massive vessel. The ship targeted the disabled D-7 ship sitting helplessly in space and reduced it to spiralling debris in a few moments of sustained fire. The Proxima passed in front of the slow moving Rome like a dragster, it swatted another Bird of prey attacking it. The remaining ships began bugging out of the fray.

The single surviving bird of prey came in a strafing run over the upper saucer of the Rome punching holes through the hull like a machine gun, the entire upper hull of the Rome was now marked with hull breaches. The view screen showing the massive Proxima turning once again to finish the fight exploded sending fragments of plasti glass and metal flying across the bridge. Metal and glass scattered across the small room, SemPek covered his face with one hand as the glass flew around.

The Bird of prey quickly jumped to warp and out of the claws of the Proxima class battleship that now thundered towards them. The massive ship slowed and came to a stop next to the badly damaged Rome. "They're hailing us captain," said the com. officer looking over at SemPek, his face covered in soot and blood.

"Put them through, on audio." He said looking at the burning view screen.

"Rome this is the Gettysburg, Emperor Spock sent us here to monitor your progress with the Alliance. Prepare your ship for towing, Captain SemPek. We'll get you back to a friendly starbase for repairs."

"Confirmed." Said SemPek looking over at the tactical officer who gave him a nod at their being ready for towing. "The negotiations went badly with the Alliance Gettysburg, we would never had made it without your help."

"You owe us one Rome." Replied the other captain with a chuckle. "It appears the Emperors fears were correct. Shortly after you broke orbit a massive fleet that was stationed behind a nearby singularity began warping across the border. This war is just beginning Captain."


End file.
